Hostinger vs SiteGround
Both are WordPress hosts aimed at agencies, freelancers and growing sites. They differ most on support, performance and staging environments.
At a glance
| Hostinger | SiteGround | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 65/100 | 75/100 Higher |
| Free plan | No | No |
| Paid from | $2.99/mo (about £2.23) 48 months upfront, $143.52 total; renews at $10.99/mo | £1.99/mo (about $2.66) first-year rate, prepaid for 12 months; renews at £13.99/mo |
| Positioning | budget | managed shared |
| Launched | 2004 | — |
| Best for | A first site, or a low-traffic site where cost matters more than headroom. | Small sites and freelancers who want managed WordPress hosting at a low first-year price, and will budget for renewal. |
Where each one leads
| Dimension | Hostinger | SiteGround | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Staging environments | 2/5 | 3/5 | SiteGround |
| Multi-site management | 4/5 | 4/5 | Tie |
| Support | 3/5 | 4/5 | SiteGround |
| Performance | 3/5 | 4/5 | SiteGround |
| Value for money | 5/5 | 4/5 | Hostinger |
| Ease of use | 4/5 | 4/5 | Tie |
| Scalability | 2/5 | 3/5 | SiteGround |
Scores are 1–5 per dimension. Hostinger leads on 1 dimension, SiteGround on 4. The overall figure weights these for WordPress hosting generally — see methodology.
Pricing
Plans are listed per tool rather than paired row by row — tiers rarely line up, and putting one vendor's second plan beside another's implies an equivalence that is not there.
| Tool | Plan | Per month | Terms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hostinger | Premium | $2.99 | 48 months upfront, $143.52 total; renews at $10.99/mo |
| Unlimited | $3.99 | 48 months upfront, $191.52 total; renews at $16.99/mo | |
| Cloud Startup | $7.99 | 48 months upfront, $383.52 total; renews at $25.99/mo | |
| SiteGround | StartUp | £1.99 | first-year rate, prepaid for 12 months; renews at £13.99/mo |
| GrowBig | £3.99 | first-year rate, prepaid for 12 months; renews at £23.99/mo | |
| GoGeek | £5.99 | first-year rate, prepaid for 12 months; renews at £34.99/mo |
Pricing checked 23 September 2026 and 24 September 2026 against each vendor's own pricing page. Hostinger: Headline prices need a 48-month term paid upfront; the monthly figure is the total divided by 48. Renewal rates are much higher. SiteGround: Shown to UK visitors in GBP, excluding VAT. Headline prices are first-year rates prepaid for 12 months; renewal prices are shown with each plan. Where the two bill in different currencies, conversions use the European Central Bank reference rate.
Verdict
Hostinger
- +By far the cheapest entry point in this comparison.
- +Email mailboxes are included (free for the first year) — neither Kinsta nor WP Engine offers email at all.
- +The Unlimited plan hosts unlimited sites, with daily backups, for under $4 a month on a long term.
- −The advertised price needs 48 months paid upfront, and renews at $10.99–$25.99 a month depending on plan.
- −The entry Premium plan runs on SSD storage with weekly, not daily, backups.
SiteGround
- +Introductory prices from £1.99 a month on StartUp, prepaid for 12 months (ex VAT).
- +Free SSL, a free CDN and free daily backups kept for 30 days on every plan.
- +GrowBig adds unlimited websites, 50 GB of storage, staging and on-demand backups.
- −Renewal prices are much higher: StartUp renews at £13.99 a month, GrowBig at £23.99 and GoGeek at £34.99 (ex VAT).
- −StartUp hosts one website with 10 GB of storage and no staging.
Common questions
Is Hostinger cheaper than SiteGround?
Hostinger starts at $2.99/mo (about £2.23; 48 months upfront, $143.52 total; renews at $10.99/mo), and SiteGround starts at £1.99/mo (about $2.66; first-year rate, prepaid for 12 months; renews at £13.99/mo) — so SiteGround is the cheaper entry point. Converted at the European Central Bank reference rate. Compare what each includes at that tier, and what it renews at, rather than the headline figure alone.
Which is better, Hostinger or SiteGround?
On our weighted scoring across the use cases in this category, SiteGround comes out ahead overall. The honest answer is that it depends on the use case — the tables above break the score down by dimension so you can weight it to your own priorities.
Other comparisons
Sources & verification
- api.frankfurter.app — checked 6 November 2026European Central Bank reference rate, published via Frankfurter.
- hostinger.com — checked 23 September 2026No free plan; a 30-day money-back guarantee instead.
- siteground.co.uk — checked 24 September 2026No free plan.